Apparatus for automatically positioning and starting a wire fabric coiling device



Sept. 14, 1965 s. P. BLAKE 3,206,136

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POSITIONING AND STARTING A WIRE FABRIC COILING DEVICE Filed June 27, 1963 3 Sheets-Sheet l I/VVE/V7'0l? STEVE R BLAKE Sept. 14, 1965 s. P. BLAKE 3,206,135

APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POSITIONING AND STARTING A WIRE FABRIC COILING DEVICE Filed June 27, 1963 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I F o ,1 Q m K k a Hymn Attorney 3,206,136 a A WIRE S. P. BLAKE Sept. 14, 1965 APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POSITIONING AND STARTIN FABRIC COILING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed June 27, 1963 fl E E-i- INVENTOR. STEVE F. BLAKE Mfififl;

AHarney United States Patent 3,206,136 APPARATUS FOR AUTOMATICALLY POSITION- ING AND STARTING A WIRE FABRIC COIL- ING DEVICE Steve P. Blake, Cleveland, Ohio, assignor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Filed June 27, 1963, Ser. No. 291,200 8 Claims. (Cl. 242--78.1)

This invention relates to apparatus for automatically positioning and starting a wire fabric coiling device which receives the wire fabric from a welded wire fabric machine. The welded wire fabric coming from the machine is generally delivered in two sections to a two part mandrel upon which the sections are coiled. After a predetermined length of the wire fabric has been coiled it is sheared and the wire fabric is removed from the mandrel as two coils. The leading end of the wirefabric is then fed into a slot in the mandrel and the operation is repeated. Previous to my invention the slot was positioned manually and the fabric fed manually into the slot. Thus a lot of expensive manual labor was required to accomplish the operation.

It is therefore an object of my invention to provide apparatus for automatically positioning and starting a wire fabric coiling device which eliminates much of the manual labor.

Another object is to provide such a device which is simple and accurate in operation.

These and other objects will be more apparent after referring to the following specification and attached drawings, in which:

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of the apparatus of my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a view taken on the line II-II of FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the apparatus;

FIGURE 4 is a view taken on the line IV-IV of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is an enlarged view taken on the line VV of FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 6 is a schematic wiring diagram incorporated in my invention.

Referring more particularly to the drawings reference numeral 2 indicates a pair of tracks on which are mounted opposed mandrel assemblies 4, 4. Since the two assemblies 4, 4 are constructed in the same manner only one will be described in detail. Each assembly 4 consists of a mandrel 6 having a slot 8 therein for receiving the leading end of a section of welded fabric F. One end of the mandrel 6 is rotatably supported in bearings 10 which in turn are mounted in housing 12. The base of the housing 12 has a slide carriage 14 which is mounted on the tracks 2. Movement of the housings 12 is effected by fluid pressure motors 16 connected by means of a piston rod 18 to the carriages 14. A sprocket 20 is secured to the mandrel 6 for rotation therewith and is driven by means of a chain 22 from a sprocket pinion 24. The pinions 24 have a spline connection with a drive shaft 26. The sprocket pinions 24 are rotatably supported on arms 28 projecting outwardly from the carriages 14. The shaft 26 is driven by an electric motor 30 through a gear reducer 32 and a chain and sprocket drive 34. A stationary stripper plate 36 is mounted adjacent the housing 12 so that the completed coils of fabric are stripped from the mandrels 6 as the housings are moved away from each other by means of the motors 16. To insure alignment of the slot 8 in one mandrel 6 with the slot 8 in the other mandrel 6, a pair of guide pins 38 are secured at the end of one mandrel and are 3,206,136 Patented Sept. 14, 1965 received in openings 40 in the end of the other mandrel. The parts so far described are conventional and are shown generally in Ensign et al. Patent No. 3, 042,335 dated July 3, 1962.

According to my invention I provide guide plates 42 on the entry side of the mandrels 6. These guide plates are attached to the floor in any suitable manner. A rod 43 extends between the plates 42 and supports a plate 44. A guide chute 46 made in two sections is pivotally supported on pins 47 carried by plates 42 and 44. The chute 46 is positioned by gravity with its outlet 48 in alignment with the slots 8 as shown in full lines in FIG- URE 5. A stop 49 on the guide plate 42 limits the downward movement of the guide chute 46. It will be understood that the guide chute may be made in a single section and pivotally supported on plates 42. i l A vane 50 is adjustably mounted on the end of one of the mandrels 6 and actuates a limit switch 52 mounted on the associated housing 12. One of the stripper plates 36 has an opening 54 therein on the exit side of the mandrels 6. A paddle 56 is pivotally mounted at 58 on the stripper plate 36 and is received in the opening 54. A pivotally mounted air cylinder 60 has its piston rod 62 attached to the paddle 56. Flow of air to the opposite ends of cylinder 60 is controlled by means of a solenoid operated valve 64.

The schematic wiring diagram shown in FIGURE 6 includes power source L1, L2. A control relay coil 66 having normally open. contacts 66C, 66C1, 66C2 and 66C3 and a normally closed contact 66C4 is connected across lines L1, L2 in series with a push button switch 68. Contact 66C is arranged in parallel with push button switch 68. Contact 66C1 is connected across lines L1, L2 in series with the primary of a transformer 70. The 12 volt secondary of the transformer 70 is connected through relay coil 72, the fabric F and the contacts of paddle 56 to ground. The relay coil 72 has a normally open contact 72C. Contact 6602 is connected across lines L1, L2 in series with solenoid 64S which is connected to operate solenoid valve 64 to introduce air to the rear of cylinder 60. Contact 6604 is connected in series with solenoid 64S1 which when energized will operate valve 64 to introduce air into the forward end of cylinder 60. Contact 66C3 is connected in series with limit switch 52, push button switch 74 and jog relay 76 which operates motor control 78 to cause motor 30 to rotate. Contact 720 is connected in series with timer 80 which has a normally closed contact 80C in series with relay coil 66 and a normally closed contact 80C1 and a normally open contact 8002 connected in series with the timer 80 and in parallel with contact 72C. The timer 80 also has a normally open contact 80C3 connected in series with push button switch 82 and reel run relay 84 which is connected to control 78 to cause motor 30 to rotate. Relay 84 has a normally open contact 84C connected in parallel with contact 80C3.

Assuming that the mandrels 6 are in engagement with one another with no fabric thereon, the operator closes push button switch 68. This energizes relay 66, thus closing its contact 66C to lock it in and also closing contact 66C1, 66C2 and 66C3 and opening contact 66C4. Closing of contact 66C2 and opening of contact 66C4 energizes solenoid 64S and deenergizes solenoid 64S1 so that valve 64 is positioned to cause air cylinder 60 to move paddle 56 outwardly into position to be contacted by the fabric F after it is moved through the slots 8. Closing of contact 66C3 energizes relay 76 to cause motor 30 to rotate until vane 50 .opens limit switch 52. This will position slots 8 in a horizontal position as shown in FIGURE 5. If the slots 8 are in their horizontal position, closing of contact 66C3 will have no effect since switch 52 will be open. The sections of fabric are then moved forwardly simultaneously in the usual manner with the guide chute46 directing the end thereof into the slots 8. The fabric F moves forwardly until it contacts paddle 56 to complete a circuit through relay 72. This closes contact 72C, thus energizing timer 80 to close contact 80C2 and lock the timer in. At this time the timer contacts 8903 closes thus energizing relay S4. Energization of relay 84 causes the motor 30 to rotate, thus coiling the fabric sections F around the mandrels 6. As the fabric builds up on the mandrels the guide chute '46 is rotated about its pivot to the broken line position shown in FIGURE 5. Energization of relay 84 also closes its contact 84C to lock it in. Contact 80C is opened momentarily to deenergize relay coil 66 and reset most of the control. Contact 80C is then closed and contact 80C1 opened, thus deenergizing timer 80. This completes the resetting of control for the next cycle. After the coils have been formed on the mandrels, push button switch 82 is .opened to stop the motor 30. Hydraulic motors 16 are then operated to retract the housings 12 and strip the coils of fabric from the mandrels 6 in the usual manner. After the coils of fabric have been removed, the motors 16 are operated to return the mandrels 6 to their inner position and the cycle of operation is then repeated. It will be understood that the fabric F may be in one section without changing the fundamental operation of my device.

While one embodiment of my invention has been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric comprising a generally horizontal mandrel having a slot therethrough, a guide chute mounted adjacent the entry side of said mandrel, means pivotally supporting the entry end of said chute for movement about a generally horizontal axis, means for positioning the discharge end of said chute at said slot when the slot is in a horizontal position, means for rotating said mandrel, said chute being rotatable about its axis as fabric is coiled on said mandrel, and means .operable by movement of the leading end of said fabric through and beyond .said slot to energize said mandrel rotating means.

2. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 1 in which the means operable by the leading end of said fabric includes a paddle adapted to be contacted by said leading end of said fabric, and a circuit actuated by contact of said fabric with said paddle to energize said mandrel rotating means.

3. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 1 including means for positioning said mandrel with its slot in a horizontal position prior to feeding wire fabric into said chute.

4. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 3 including means operable by movement of the leading end ,of said fabric through and beyond said slot to energize said mandrel rotating means.

5. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric comprising a generally horizontal mandrel having a slot therethrough, a pair of spaced apart side guides adjacent the entry side of said mandrel, a guide chute between said side guides mounted adjacent the entry side of said mandrel, means pivotally supporting the entry end of said chute for movement about a generally horizontal axis, said guide chute having a generally vertical opening at its entry end and a generally vertical opening at its discharge end, said entry opening being higher than said discharge opening, said chute being movable by gravity to a position where the discharge opening is aligned with said slot when the slot is in a horizontal position, means for preventing downward movement of the discharge end of said chute below said slot when the slot is in a horizontal position, means for rotating said mandrel, said chute being rotatable about its axis as fabric is coiled on said mandrel, and means operable by movement of the leading end of said fabric through and beyond said slot to energize said mandrel rotating means.

6. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 5 in which the means operable by the leading end of said fabric includes a paddle adapted to be contacted by said leading end of said fabric, and a circuit actuated by contact of said fabric with said paddle to energize said mandrel rotating means.

7. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 5 including means for positioning said mandrel with its slot in a horizontal position prior to feeding wire fabric into said chute.

8. Apparatus for coiling welded wire fabric according to claim 7 including means operable by movement of the leading end of said fabric through and beyond said slot to energize said mandrel rotating means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,756,941 7/56 Ranney 242-78.1 2,951,657 9/60 Wallin 242-78.1 3,062,471 11/62 Loop 242-81 MERVIN STEIN; Primary Examiner. 

1. APPARATUS FOR COILING WELDED WIRE FABRIC COMPRISING A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL MANDREL HAVING A SLOT THERETHROUGH, A GUIDE CHUTE MOUNTED ADJACENT THE ENTRY SIDE OF SAID MANDREL, MEANS PIVOTALLY SUPPORTING THE ENTRY END OF SAID CHUTE FOR MOVEMENT ABOUT A GENERALLY HORIZONTAL AXIS, MEANS FOR POSITIONING THE DISCHARGE END OF SAID CHUTE AT SAID SLOT WHEN THE SLOT IS IN A HORIZONTAL POSITION, MEANS FOR ROTATING SAID MANDREL, SAID CHUTE BEING ROTATABLE ABOUT ITS AXIS AS FABRIC IS COILED ON SAID MANDREL, AND MEANS OPERABLE BY MOVEMENT OF THE LEADING END OF SAID FABRIC THROUGH AND BEYOND SAID SLOT TO ENERGIZE SAID MANDREL ROTATING MEANS. 